Anastas Mikoyan

Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan (25 November 1895-21 October 1978) was Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 15 July 1964 to 9 December 1965, succeeding Leonid Brezhnev and preceding Nikolai Podgorny.

Biography
Anastas Mikoyan was born in Sanahin, Yelizavetpol Governorate, Russian Empire (now Armenia) on 25 November 1895, and he was educated at a seminary. After the February Revolution of 1917, he joined the Bolsheviks, and rose quickly within the ranks of the regional Caucasian party hierarchy. He became a full member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1923, was a candidate of the Politburo from 1926, and full member from 1935 until his retirement untl 1966. In this position he held several governmental posts, serving as Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars until 1964, when he became the formal head of the Soviet Union. His career was closely linked to his fellow Caucasian, Joseph Stalin, even more so as he survived (and participated in) the Great Purge and other acts of terror. It was a testimony to his political survival skills that he retained his position despite Nikita Khrushchev's anti-Stalinist campaigns. He retired in 1965, and he died in 1978.